Wardens want to stand alone

Te Ururoa Flavell said Maori wardens should seek a durable solution. Photo / File

A Waitangi Tribunal finding has given the New Zealand Maori Wardens Association momentum to continue to push for independence.

The tribunal's report released this week largely upheld a claim by the New Zealand Maori Council that the Crown breached the Treaty of Waitangi and weakened the authority of the volunteers by interfering in how they were run. The wardens came under the council's authority through the Maori Community Development Act 1962 before being superseded by the Government in 2007 and administered by Te Puni Kokiri.

National Wardens Association president, Rotorua-based Gloria Hughes, said the report reaffirmed their fight to be a separate self-governing body.

"This definitely gives us momentum because we are refusing to go under the New Zealand Maori Council again," Mrs Hughes said.

"We congratulate the tribunal in its finding and are grateful to be able to have an input to the hearing ... what the report does is produce a paradigm shift for many Maori wardens from one existence to a new existence.

"We're hell bent now to push our own barrell forward so we can have an improved management and robust administration of Maori wardens on a national level."

Mrs Hughes said 5000 signatures had been collected recently for a petition to support the organisation in gaining its independence.

"It's never been our intention to remove the [Maori Community Development Act 1962], the Maori council have certainly contributed to the Maori economic development to Maori in New Zealand. We just want freedom from the legislation."

Waiariki MP and Maori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell said there was a need for Maori wardens to find a durable solution to the complex set of issues facing the organisation in its management and administration.

"The release of the report doesn't change the fact that some Maori wardens and the New Zealand Maori Council are divided about the best way forward and herein lies the challenge," Mr Flavell said.

But Mrs Hughes said a resolution was unlikely.